Apparatus for feeding flour iron ore to blast-furnaces.



E. L. HARPER, JR. APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FLOURIRON ORE T0 BLAST FURNACES.

.APPLIUATI ON FILED APR. 8, 1908.

Patented Mar. 9, 1909.

By ATTORNEYS EDWARD L, HARPER, JR., OF BIG STONE GAP, VIRGINIA.

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FLOUR IRON ORE TO BLAST-FURNACES.

I Specification of Letters-Patent.

Patented'March 9, 1909.

Application filed April 8, 1908. Serial No. 425,954.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. HARPER, Jr., a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Big Stone Gap, in the county of Wise and Stateof Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ap aratus forFeed ing Flour. Iron Ore to B as't-Furnac es, of

which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improve ments in theapparatus forfeeding o flour iron ore, that is, ore in an extremely' fine state ofsubdivision, to blast furnaces, in such a mannerthat it will not beblown out immediately by the blast, but will become amalgamated with themolten or fused mass in the bosh of the furnace. f

In the ordinary type of blast furnace, ore, fuel and limestone are fedto the furnace through the hopper at the u per end thereof, upon theopenlng of the be but due to the strong blast of air forced into thefurnace at the lower end thereof and the strong current of gas escapingthrough the gas outlet pipe or down-take, a large portion of the fineore is blown out of the furnace and cannot be smelted. Infact, such alarge quantity of this fine ore or dust is blown out of the furnace,that it is necessary to provide dust catchers, wherein this fine ore ordust may separate fromthe blast furnace gases. It is needless to returnthis dust or flour ore to the hopper for re-charging in the furnace, foras soon as it enters the furnace it will be immediately blown out again.This dust accumulates in enormous quantities, and, even though it isvery rich in iron, yet at the present day it is considered of no value,due to the inability to economically smelt the same. In the working ofmy invention, I remove the flour ore from the dust catcher and returnthe same to the furnace at such a point that it cannot be blown outagain. That is, I return it directly to the zone of fusion, where it isimmediately amalgamated or.- melted before the blast can remove itthrough the down-take.

My invention consists in the means em ployed for forcing the flour oreabove referred to directly into the air pipe connecting the bustle pipeand twyer and above the peep hole, theforcing means being so constructedthat the rate at which the ore is fed may be varied at will or may bestop ed entirely without air escaping through t e ore-delivery means.

'co umn 12.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, showing a blastfurnace in vertical section with my improved mechanism connectedtheretol My improved mechanism may be used in connection with any blastfurnace whatsoever, but for purposes of illustration I have shown anordinary type of blast furnace, havin a crucible 10, a bosh 11, and astack or The stack is supported by suitable columns 13, and is fed atits upper end through a hopper 14, which may be closed by avertically-movable bell 15. Adjacent the hopper is a suitable platform16, along which the ore may be conveyed for dumping into the hopper, andthere is provided suitable mechanism, including a lever 17, foroperating the be Surroundin the furnace, adjacent the bosh, is analr-distribu-ting pipe or bustle ipe 18. Below the bos'h any suitablenumber of twyers 19 may be provided, each of which is connected to thebustle pipe by a conduit, including a horizontally-disposed ortion orblow pi e 20 and an inclined or eg ipe 21. The air which is deliveredfrom the ustle pipe to the twyers comes into contact with the moltenmaterial and serves to support the combustion of the fuel. nitrogen inthe airand the gases generated within the furnace, rise through thematerial in thestack, carrying all dust and finely subdivided ore to theupper end and force them out of the furnace through a as outlet ordown-take 22. The down-take eads to a dust catcher, not shown, where thedust is separated from hot gases before the latter are conducted toburners, engines,-or storage tanks. p

None of the features thus far described, constitute any portion of theinvention hereinafter claimed, inasmuch as they may all be constructedin accordance with common practice.

In the specific mechanism illustrated for carrying out my invention, Iprovide a con duit, casing, or shall 23, having a rotary conveyer 24,mounted therein, and having one end thereof in communication with theleg pipe 21 leading from the bustle pipe 18. At

received rom a hopper '26. The screw con- .or. adjacent the rear end ofthe casing or con- -duit 23, there is provided an entrance opening '25,throu h which the fine flour ore or dust is veyer 24 may be operated inany suitable manner, as, for-instance, by a worm 27, en-

gaging with a worm wheel 28 at the end of the casing. A suitableagitator 29'fmay, desired, be provided within the hopper, at the lowerportion thereofpto prevent the "mate- I rial from collecting at theentrance opening and this a tator may be operated from the shaft of t escrew conveyer. In order to prevent the large particles irom passinginto the conveye'r or the .air 1pipe, 'IIn ay, 1Q desired, provide arotarycy '30, receiving the. material from a chute 31 leading totheinterior of the cylinder and de 1 livering the coarser particles butat the oppo- 'sit e end of the'cylinder. The detailed con- 15 structionof the co'nveyer, hopper and screen may be variedwithin wide limits, asit is only necessary that coarse ore be eliminated and only the fine oredelivered to the air;pipe. -When it is not desired to employjthis'orefeeding mechanism, the escape of 'airthrough the same may be,prevented y the closing of a suitable valve 32,"adj acent theintersection of the pipe 21 with'the casing '23.

" The ore,'fuel, &c., arefedtothe n-j eri' the ordinary manner,-fand;fact, the "op ation isconducted according to well-known practice, exce tthat the flour orewhich collects in the. ust catcher," instead ofibein'gthrown away as valuele'ss, is conveyedto' the hopper 26 and forced intothe a r pipe at such 'it's assage upward through the bosh and drical'screen substantial v and asubstanti'ally vertically-extending por a rateas to be conveyed'into the'furnace' be-. low the upper limits ofthe'zone" of fusion. The flour ore here immediately amalgamates with themolten or semim'olten' material, and

tion, a conduit extendingsubstantially horizontally and connectedto's'aid air pipe intermediate the ends of the vertically-extendingportion of the latter, a screw conveyer within said conduit,"a out-oilvalve intermediate the ,end of said conveyer and said air pipe, and ahopper adjacent ,the outerend' of said conduit and communicating withthe interior of l the latter. L p

testimonywhereofl have signed my name to this specification in the"presence of two subscribing witnesses. g EDWARDg'L. HARPER, JRQ

Witnesses: Y Y OLAIRW. FAIRBANK,

JomrP. DAVIS.

